The present invention relates in general to heat protection garments and in particular to a new and useful heat protection garment which includes manifolds and headers which are connected by a plurality of coolant tubes.
By metabolism the human body generates heat continuously. The heat is normally given off into the surroundings by radiation, conduction, convection and evaporation. The necessary equilibrium at which the body temperature does not rise beyond the physiologically permitted limit can be achieved only if the surroundings can absorb the heat as quickly as it is generated. Direct removal of heat from the body becomes impossible, however, when the surrounding temperature is higher than the permissible upper limit for human body temperature. In these cases the heat is removed by a cooling system in which a cooling liquid or gas is passed through pipes. For reasons of health and wearing comfort it is extremely important that the coolant quantity is distributed over the entire cooling surface. If this were not the case, partial supercooling and possibly health damage could result.
A known heat protection suit is used for work in mines under hazardous conditions when the temperature reaches, for instance, 150.degree. C. and where there are poisonous gases or no oxygen in the surrounding atmosphere.
The protective suit consists of an elastic fabric. Additionally it is completely covered with a heat-insulating three-layer covering. Externally of the protective suit, but inside the covering, pipes are fastened which likewise consist of an elastic material. They serve as paths to circulate the cooling medium. The individual pipes are joined through a header to form a complete pipe system. For this purpose the ends of the pipes are connected to this header. The header is a tubular ring attached to the helmet of the protective suit, the cavity of the ring being divided into two chamber portions by dividing walls. The coolant medium is supplied to one chamber portion and discharged from the other. For the passage of the cooling medium through the pipes, the pipes are connected by their two ends to the chamber portions. The header is connected with the cooling system by appropriate flexible tubes. The cooling medium circulates and absorbs or gives off heat. The distribution of the cooling medium over the individual pipes and hence the cooling of the body surface, depends on the arrangement of the ends of the pipes at the header and the resulting flow conditions. Through a pipe connected to the header near the feed tube from the cooling system a different quantity of cooling medium will flow than through a pipe connected diametrically opposite thereto (see DE-PS No. 24 19 524).
Another protective garment is known which has liquid-traversed tubes for heat transfer. These tubes have a liquid feed line and a return line. In order to hinder the wearer of the protective garment as little as possible in his freedom of movement, the tubes are flexibly mounted singly or in groups in holding means consisting of channels. The holding means consist of holding strips sewed to the garment which are made of the same material as the rest of the garment. The holding strips form a channel in which the tube is freely movable. The liquid feed line branches into individual tubes leading to the arm and leg ends and ending there in distribution pieces. Thence return tube groups lead in the form of large-area spirals along the body to the center of the body and end there in return collecting segments. The return collecting segments then have connecting lines and lastly are connected to the return line for the heat-transfering liquid. The division or combination of the heat-transfering liquid in the distributor segments and in the return collecting segments occurs according to the geometric arrangement thereon. The quantity of liquid in the tubes is thus dependent on the geometry of the segments. A uniform control of the various body portions is not ensured (see DE-AS No. 16 10 647).